10.7.07

Bonito con tomate (albacore in tomato sauce)

My mother insists that I say, loud and clear, that J is in every respect a perfect husband, and that he sent a big bouquet of blood-red roses yesterday, just so you know ( and yes, she does mean to imply that I am a shrew and don´t deserve him).And since today isn´t my aniversary any more, I have no reason to fume. I have the house to myself, which means I have the whole sofa, undisputed control of the remote, and freedom of choice in viewing matter. I have rented a stack of DVDs that J would hate, mainly The Sopranos, which I´d never got round to watching, and so I´m very happy, really.I went to the market for fruit and cucumbers, but couldn´t resist buying some bonito. This white tuna is one of my favourite things, and it´s right in season now, which means it costs almost nothing (well, al-most).So I´ve decided to cook it in a way that will make it very suitable for watching the Sopranos, bonito con tomate.

This is a very simple dish that I really love. It´s just bonito del norte, in a tomato sauce. All you have to do is make a tomato sauce in whichever way you usually do (mine has quite a bit of onion, some garlic and lots of sugar, with a pinch of chili and sometimes some oregano). You then put the fish in this sauce and let it poach gently, until it´s juicy and white, and breaks into big delicate flakes. Five minutes at most, and let it finish cooking inside the hot sauce.Of course, as you can imagine, the standard orthodox bona fide recipe calls for frying the fish first, so it browns. But I find that it only makes the dish more greasy, the fish more likely to dry out, and you don´t see the nice brown colour with the whole thing smothered in red sauce.

So there you go. Serve with white rice (this is not the influence of my rice-cooker craziness, but actual tradition). Leftovers are heavenly with a change of nationality, reincarnated as a pasta sauce.

Nearly every conversation I have with my Nana she tells me how lucky I am to have my husband and how great he is and how I should spoil him more, lol. So I definitely related to this post - it made me chuckle! Enjoy your quality solo DVD time. :)